FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT PARTICIPATORY NOTES - PAGE 2

MUMBAI: Under pressure from foreign brokerages and foreign institutional investors (FIIs), Sebi has decided to delete a clause from the draft code of conduct for FIIs, which sought a ban on issuance of participatory notes, or p-notes. Sources say the regulator has realised that it has no jurisdiction over these instruments issued outside India. Earlier versions of the draft code stated that FIIs shall not deal with any derivative instruments issued outside India where the underlying are Indian securities, either directly or indirectly.

NEW DELHI: Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today ruled out relaxing curbs imposed last year on participatory notes, a derivative tool that enables unregistered foreign investors to invest in Indian stock markets. "No. SEBI has already notified the regulations which arose out of October decisions," SEBI Chairman C B Bhave told reporters when asked if there was any proposal to amend the regulations on PNs. In October 2007, SEBI had imposed restrictions on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)

NEW DELHI: In what could be a major boost to the ensuing public offer for sale of ten per cent equity in the state-owned ONGC, market regulator Sebi has permitted lead managers and book runners to issue participatory notes for attracting foreign investment. Sebi's permission to these merchant bankers comes along with some conditions, including disclosure norms, sources associated with the disinvestment process said. In view of the importance being attached to the success of ONGC issue for attainment of the revised disinvestment target of Rs 14,500 crore for the year 2003-04, the government had recommended the issue to Sebi for favourable consideration, sources said.

NEW DELHI: In what could be a major boost to the ensuing public offer for sale of ten per cent equity in the state-owned ONGC, market regulator Sebi has permitted lead managers and book runners to issue participatory notes for attracting foreign investment. Sebi's permission to these merchant bankers comes along with some conditions, including disclosure norms, sources associated with the disinvestment process said. In view of the importance being attached to the success of ONGC issue for attainment of the revised disinvestment target of Rs 14,500 crore for the year 2003-04, the government had recommended the issue to Sebi for favourable consideration, sources said.

NEW DELHI: Tightening norms for issue of participatory notes (P-Notes) by overseas investors, Sebi has barred "unregulated" foreign funds from dealing in offshore derivative instruments even if their investment managers are appropriately regulated by their concerned regulators. The guidelines, which are part of the newly notified Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) Regulations, have come into force with immediate effect. They provide for stricter oversight of P-Notes , the preferred route for overseas high net worth individuals (HNIs)

NEW DELHI: Only five foreign institutional investors (FIIs) account for about 59.59% of the total participatory notes issued in India as of July-end. These FIIs include Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch Espana, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman, Sachs & Co and CLSA Merchant Bankers. The five top FIIs have issued participatory notes of the total notional value of over Rs 2 lakh crore, minister of state for finance PK Bansal told Lok Sabha in a written reply. There are 28 FIIs issuing PNs as of July-end, said Mr Bansal.

NEW DELHI: Proper monitoring is in place to check investments made through Participatory Notes and there have been huge inflows of genuine funds through the instrument this year, the government said today. Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha informed the Rajya Sabha that necessary Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines have been followed for the beneficial owner of the PN . Responding to a query on whether it is a fact that huge investments are flowing into the country through PNs during the current year, Sinha replied in the affirmative.

NEW DELHI: Rich overseas entities, investing in Indian markets through 'Participatory Notes', are estimated to have pulled out over Rs 1 lakh crore (about USD 20 billion) in less than three months on fears of getting caught in the government's taxation net and its black money trail. As a result, the quantum of money invested through these P-Notes has hit its rock-bottom levels of just about 10 per cent of total FII (foreign institutional investment) holdings -- which used to be more than 50 per cent a few years ago. The Participatory Notes (P-Notes)

NEW DELHI: The government today said it is not considering any proposal to ban Participatory Notes (P-Notes) as part of efforts to check black money. "There is no proposal at present to remove participatory notes in order to check the generation and laundering of black money,"Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha . P-Notes, or offshore derivative instruments, are mostly used by overseas HNIs, hedge funds and other foreign institutions to invest in Indian markets through registered foreign institutional investors (FIIs)

MUMBAI: The Sebi discussion paper on the code of conduct for intermediaries hit market sentiments on Tuesday. The discussion paper seemed to hint at curbing trades through participatory notes (p-notes), as part of its code of conduct for foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Though Sebi issued a clarification stating that it has no plans to change the existing norms for FII investment, it had no impact on market sentiments. BSE sensex fell 1% to 3245, while NSE Nifty lost 1.2% at 1047.